This vase has a compressed ovoid body and a slender neck ending in a garlic-bud mouth. On a clear crackled glaze, a continuous frieze of shokunin (craftspeople) at work wraps the body. Bonhams identified artisans making arrows, bows, quivers and armour, lacquer, writing brushes, silk, obi sashes, fans and parasols, among other goods. A collar of blossoming flowers sits at the shoulder, and birds among cherry blossom decorate the neck and mouth.
The cataloguer traced the subject to shokunin zukushi-e, ‘pictures of all the professions’, with antecedents in folding screens of urban life in Kyoto. It is signed in gilt ‘Yabu Meizan’. Offered at Bonhams, Fine Japanese & Korean Art, New York, on 16 September 2026, lot 1069. It realised US$3,584 including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of US$3,000–US$4,000.